Happy New Year: Top 3 Human Rights Disasters in 2011!

Boom!! Fireworks explode and human rights activists everywhere burst open Champagne to congratulate themselves on another year of preventing people nuking the planet in oblivion.

BUT!!...where is the next super hot zone going to erupt I hear you ask? How can I be first in line to print the latest petition or send that strongly worded letter off to that dastardly embassy that never writes back? Well. chums....wonder no more for here is the top 3 storms waiting to hit human rights in 2011!!!......

1. Southern Sudan (seriously...god help this part of the world)

Southern Sudan made the mistake of producing 85% of the Sudanese oil industry. Yummy $$$$$ to some, but ugly war to other. And because they produce 85% of the oil and are a Christan minority in a Muslim majority country, they want to have a referendum to gain independence. The big problem is the President of Sudan is Omar al-Bashir accused by they International Criminal Court of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Do you think a guy like that is going to let 85% of his wealth disappear?...me neither.

 Omar al-Bashir: Wanted by ICC for genocide and just an all round jerk

2. Ivory Coast ( "brink of genocide"...not good)

Political unrest following Ivory Coast's disputed presidential election has brought the country to the "brink of genocide", its new ambassador to the United Nations said. If that wasn't bad enough three of it's neighbors have threatened war if the current President does not step down. The November 28th 2010 election was meant to reunite Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa growing nation, after a 2002-03 civil war. But a dispute over the results has provoked lethal street clashes with 170 people dead and threatens to restart open conflict.

Ivory Coast: Bad idea for a summer holiday in 2011

3. Lebanon (They killed each other over a tree in 2010...what do you think a UN report is going to do?)

Tensions between the country's antagonistic communities are rising rapidly as they await the findings of an official inquiry into the 2005 murder of prime minister Rafik Hariri. If, as expected, Iranian-backed Hezbollah is blamed, many fear the weak coalition government in Beirut may fall apart. Expect return to almost non-stop civil war since France decided to create Lebanon while out on a late night session with Britain....and of course the obligatory Israeli invasion to follow.

Check with your Lebonese neighbors first before you move a tree in the middle east

Honourable mentions for human rights disasters in 2011:

Iran: Continue to build nuclear weapons....they want them like I want Megan Fox.

Thailand: The Red Shirt protest movement, forcibly suppressed in May, can be expected to make a comeback under more militant leadership ahead of general elections due by the autumn.

North Korea: Kim Jong-il's regime provocatively revealed its uranium enrichment facilities to the world, conducted more military exercises, sank a South Korean naval vessel and then attacked a South Korean island in November, killing civilians in the process. (Booo!!!)

The whole Middle East: Of course.


Where is Aung San Suu Kyi when you need her?

Happy New Year!!

First Semester Review! Amnesty Maynooth did all this??!!!

by Ciarán Ó Cearbhaill

BOOM! One semester down and just Semester Two to go in which to save this mad world from itself. In this crazy modern world of mod cons, space flight and unnecessary Tron sequels it’s difficult to remember just what we accomplished, so let’s go on a journey through space and time to relive the year thus far........

·         Blog writer disclaimer: I’m listening to ‘Shakira – She Wolf' on repeat as I write this



Electric Picnic 2010 and Christina knew already it was going to be another long hard year with Amnesty



AGM: 6^th September 30 young, hungry human rights go getters attended our AGM with the aim to make the world a better place. After a couple of glasses of wine and generous helpings of cheesy snacks we were all sure we had already made the world a better place but decided to do the society anyway. We also played a ridiculously awesome ice breaker chair moving game where Stephen Eamonn Dunne won the right to stand in the middle every time and we elected reps for first years (Orladh Hannigan), international students (Nicole Roy) and post-grad students (Anne-Marie O'Reilly).



Fiach takes cover behind his death penalty sheet as a tongue happy dog approaches, fortunately for him the dog choose Stephen to lick.



Death Penalty Campaign: One of our major campaigns for first semester was our anti-death penalty campaign, especially for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashanti who faced death by stoning in Iran. The society put together a death penalty flash mob in the arts block that attracted the special attention of a dog that couldn’t resist Stephen’s charms. As for the video: *Award for Best Fall* - Paul Maher’s shot in the head fall, closely followed by Fiach’s delayed reaction collapse. *Award for Worst Fall* - Orladh Hannigan which was more like an old women getting into bed rather than instant death (seriously, watch the video, she even snuggles up).

Afterwards a stand was set up and we got 215 signatures signed and 3 people to be added to the mailing list! Yayy!  At the following Wednesday the society watched ‘The Stoning of Soraya M’ where the society learned that stonings are far worse in slow motion and accompanied by violins, so the group took decisive action and fast forwarded the movie. Problem solved.

Dean combines his love for alcohol and covering himself in baloons

Intervarsity:  11 members from the society set off to the wet and windy mountains of west Wicklow for a weekend of ‘Agents of Change’ human rights training. The weekend brought together 80 students from amnesty groups in 8 different universities. It consisted of workshops, special guest speaker David Norris talking about Georgian restoration work in his house and finished off with a flash mob for Roma rights which included people freezing their asses off at the Central Bank. The evenings were especially fun with a fancy dress competition, alcoholic beverages and people desperately trying to get enough TV reception to watch X-factor.

Some lucky punters manage to get TV reception to watch X-Factor at the Intervarsity
but failed in their quest to find the thermostat above their heads

Father Ted Table Quiz: (Sometimes the people that hold the raffle, win the raffle…eh Sorcha?) 50 people attended and we raised €287. We also had a petition against the mental health cuts and got another 50 signatures. Stephen Eamonn Dunne fended off fierce completion to win the ‘My Lovely Horse’ sing off, and a guy was seemed to be high on some drug cocktail wasn’t leaving the stage until he was declared the winner of the ‘Dancing-Priest dance-off’, beating a man on crutches in the process. Sorcha fended of stiff competition from Shmick (who bought half the tickets) to win the raffle (Winning number: 111, it took me a while to read out because I was holding it upside down). The evening finished with a rendition of the national anthem, but the only record we had was ghost town so we played that instead.

The dancing priest dance off *note: guy on crutches*

Emergency General Meeting: Laura Feeney cried so hard into the NUIM Amnesty constitution when Wagner was eliminated on the X-Factor we had to write a new one. The new constitution changed the name of the society to MSU Amnesty and eliminated any position Ciarán held on the committee which meant the new constitution was passed unanimously at the EGM. Anna Rourke was elected our new O.C.M. (ordinary committee member) but Paul Maher unfortunately had to step down from the committee and Ciarán stole his way back in, *sigh*.

Stephens plans a bank robbery...or a flash mob, who knows?

The semester ended with a pizza extravaganza Christmas party. Fiach went through a life changing experience during the movie ‘UP’ and had to be restrained from attempting to entre the movie through the screen on multiple occasions. Stephen Eamonn Dunne once again experienced problems with the chair moving ice breaker game, proving some things don’t change.

We also did loads of other stuff, LGBT debate, LGBT Christmas cards, attended NUIM open day, Christmas stall in arts block selling fair-trade amnesty goods and raffle tickets which raised €150, creative campaigning workshop, Ciarán gave a lecture on erectile dysfunction which raised €155 and terrified a lot of people, many members attended the riot march against fees and we sent people to clubs and societies meetings. Do we rock or what? WOOO!!!

That’s all I can remember plus I want to watch the Rubberbandits video again.

Roll on Semester Two! HOO HOO HOO! Merry Christmas.

MSU Amnesty with David Norris (and some other randomers who wish they were MSU Amnesty)

TV Captures Asylum Seekers Boat Sinking

The desperate need for the world to pay attention to the unbelievable dangers asylum seekers face grows more apparent with every mass drowning. Dozens of people are feared dead after a wooden boat packed with asylum seekers was wrecked as it reached Australia's Christmas Island territory in heavy seas.

The boat is thought to have come from Indonesia carrying refugees from Iraq and Iran, and to have been heading for the main Australian offshore immigration detention centre.

Thousands of asylum seekers drown every year all over the world trying to escape persecution, but it's rarely captured on video.

Thought of the Day

In World War 1 civilian casualties were 10%

In World War 2 civilian casualties were 50%

In Vietnam civilian casualties were 70%

In Iraq civilian casualties are currently 90%

                       "You can't say that civilization don't advance, however,
                         for in every war they kill you in a new way."
                           Will Rogers, New York Times, Dec. 23, 1929

Shock and Awe

Video Blog: Electric Picnic 2010

Electric Picnic 2010 was so much crazy fun that we wanted to share two videos taken by activists so you make sure you have your vounteer form handed in for Electric Picnic 2011.           

Warning: Phillip Daltons video contains images of really really exhausted and smelly people.

Amnesty Intervarsity by Phillip 'Thrilla' Dalton

Two buses filled with people, more cans of cheap beer then Father Jack’s bedroom and far too many clothes shoved into far too small bags, it HAS to be the Amnesty Intervarsity!

Our big ‘ol gang of 72 university activists left Dublin heading for our weekend respite for fun, debauchery and training in Wicklow. Despite the craziest roads in all of Ireland hindering our journey slightly we all arrived in good time for dinner. After a much needed bite to eat “The Don” himself, Mr. Colm O’Gorman arrived to give us an opening speech. Colm’s speech left people with two distinct feelings, awe and invigoration. We then joined in a quick round of speed friendship (basically speed dating, just without the dodgy weirdo trying to buy you a drink afterwards) our questions were read out by the bearded legend that is Bart Storan and delegates were given 2 minutes to answer the questions. We then retired to our boudoirs to get ready for the night, which I can assure you, was filled with tasteful fun, classical music and

had a standard of morality unmatched by any other organisation.....

The next morning, with our intentions unhindered by the groggy, sleep deprived heads that emerged from each room we soldiered on through the day and each talk, delivered excellently by our crack team of you activists, Bart “I F**king love mornings!” Storan, Catherine “are you starting?” Sherlock, Mary “Don’t criticise me, I don’t like it” Quinn and the masterful Sheelan “Ridiculously organised” Yousefizadeh. Overall the workshops went fantastically. That night after some lovely dinner our guest of honour, Senator David Norris (we couldn’t believe it either!) delivered a fantastic speech, speaking about architecture, the early Irish gay scene, his dislike for our founder Sean Macbride and also his
time in Tibet.

The next morning a workshop delivered by Ciaran “Did you know I’m a big deal?” O’Carrol, informed the delegates of the human rights violations being implemented on the Roma people. We then worked together and used our new found activist skills to develop a flashmob that we would perform in Dublin in front of The Central Bank. We designed posters for the flashmob and created petitions before all hopping on the buses and heading to the capital. In Dublin we performed our action and had four pages  of our petitions signed.

All of us in both the Youth Action Team and the Youth Management Team would like to thank all the delegates for their dedication and support to becoming better, more efficient activists and for taking action to implement serious change in the world.

Peace,
Phil Dalton

Got any opinions? Feel free to comment!

Got any Blogs? Send them to Philip.Dalton5@Gmail.com           

Mental Health in Ireland – Demanding Change

 

This week a fourteen year old was admitted to a Waterford adult mental health inpatient unit. Stopping this practice isn’t a luxury item in a recession; it can be a matter of life and death.

As a kid I used to look up to my friend Simon, he was five years older than me, a 14 year old teenager listening to Metallica, popular with girls and banging the door on the way out to house parties. He was exactly everything I thought was cool and what I wanted to become.

But last Friday I attended Simon’s funeral, struggling to fold enough mass booklets in time as devastated mourners overflowed the church.  Simon had  experienced mental health problems, most notably schizophrenia, and took his life on the banks of the River Dodder.

His battle with mental illness lasted 14 years, it was valiant and inspirational. He wasn’t just fighting to recover, he had dreams and goals he wanted to achieve and he was going to accomplish them with or without his illness. But he couldn’t get better in Ireland, life in a mental health unit had no meaning for him, he wanted to work and feel empowered. But in Ireland, despite the boom years, we did not invest in sufficient holistic community-based facilities and Simon went abroad for treatment.

After spending time in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin with its excellent staff his mother managed to get a visa for him to travel to Gould Farm in Berkshire County, western Massachusetts. Gould Farm is a residential therapeutic community, dedicated to helping adults with mental health problems move towards recovery, health and independence through community living, meaningful work, and modern clinical support. It’s here that Simon said he had the best years of his life; Gould Farm empowered him and provided a community environment. One day his friend asked him what he wanted to do with his life, the answer was scuba diving, and the photo on his coffin was of him diving off the coast of Massachusetts. He was living life and enjoying it. However, Simon’s visa did not allow him to work for money in the USA, so he returned to Ireland to try and find a meaningful job and begin a new happy life at home. Tragically he could find no work in the recession, was admitted a mental health unit, stopped taking his medication and didn’t survive.

If there was a Gould Farm in Ireland, chances are that Simon would still with us. If we are serious about treating mental health then more funds must be made available for this kind of facility in Ireland.  It’s good news the Minister of State for Mental Health John Moloney has identified this as a problem and said the budget must increase, but just this week it was reported that at least 100 children under the age of 18 have been admitted to adult psychiatric facilities this year despite a commitment by the HSE to phase out the practice.

We need to see change, end discrimination against people with mental health problems and demand that our mental health services are given the funding and facilities they desperately need. Because as we see from Simon’s story, it is a matter of life and death.

 

 

The First World Information War

The war has begun, hackers from all over the world are donning ‘V for Vendetta’ Guy Fawkes masks as part of Operation Payback and attacking the websites of ‘enemies of free speech’ in an attempt to punish those who tried in vain to halt Wikileaks release of United States secret cables. MasterCard, Amazon, PayPal, Swiss PostFinance and even the US Senators website have fallen victim to a loosely connected worldwide group of hackers calling themselves ‘Anonymous’. Today a 16 year boy was arrested in Holland on suspicion of being part of the group, using his home computer to hack the MaterCard secure service.

The conflict between the ‘Anonymous’ hackers and Washington has highlighted the net’s power to act as a thorn not only in the side of authoritarian regimes but western democracies, on our right to information and the responsibility of holding secrets. It has also asked profound questions over the role of the net itself. This is unchartered territory for human rights campaigners. There are no rules of engagement, no international treaties or conventions for the participants to adhere too. Neither the hackers nor Washington are worried about being accountable for their actions in this cyber war. The power held by both sides to disrupt and shut down popular sites on the world’s most powerful information tool must be a concern for us all.

‘Anonymous’ leaders have distributed the hacking software tools to allow anyone with a computer to join Operation Payback. So far more than 9,000 users in the US have downloaded the software and 3,000 in the UK. This puts software designed to trigger “denial of service” attacks on websites into the hands of tens of thousands of people, instead of just a small band of online brothers. It only took 3,000 people to take MasterCard and Visa services offline last Wednesday.

The current cyber war raises many questions, for example…..

Should weapons of mass disruption be free to download to anybody who wants them?

How do you hold accountable a hacker group like ‘Anonymous’ accountable when members disappear by simply logging out?

Do online companies need legal protection from governments who exert pressure on them to pull services to customers whose ideology they don’t agree with?

Why has the internet failed to democratize the world as expected?

We don’t yet know who will win the First World Information War but this is the time to start to ask ourselves the important questions, like what rights inherently apply to the internet? Because the only internet rule the world seems to agree on is that access to the internet uncensored by governments and ‘hacktivists’ is a human right. But we need more than that solitary rule to police the worlds greatest communication tool.